Saturday, 15 December 2012

Journalists Search for Nelson Mandela

Mandela is in the hospital and for the past five days journalists in South Africa have camping outside Military 1 hospital in Pretoria reporting on his condition just to be told that they were at the wrong hospital.

Just yesterday reporters learned that they were at the wrong site when the presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj inform them that the former
president was at a separate unidentified hospital.”

The mix-up occurred amid rumors that Mandela had died, which his
spokesman denied, but neither the family nor the government are
disclosing his location.

However government still persist that Mandela was still receiving treatment in hospital.
“The
doctors attending to former president Nelson Mandela report that he has
had a comfortable 24 hours and that he remains under treatment in
hospital,” said presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj.

He said doctors had not given any information about when he might be released.
Rainy
weather has not discouraged news crews camping outside the Hospital in Pretoria, in an attempt to get updates on Mandela’s
health.

Mandela is believed to be recuperating in the private
institution, despite confirmation on Monday by Defence Minister Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula that the statesman was at a military facility.

Yesterday,
journalists from local and international media parked their vehicles
along Celliers Street, overlooking the private hospital’s main entrance.

Among
the media there was the Eyewitness News (EWN) team which reported that:
“The name of the hospital is known by Eyewitness News, but this is not
being released to respect Madiba’s dignity.”
That report shifted
attention from the 1 Military Hospital at the Thaba Tshwane Military
Base where the media had been camping since last weekend.

Since
yesterday morning, the number of journalists kept increasing at
Mediclinic as details of the reported new hospital filtered through.

At around midday, a convoy of three black vehicles with police lights and sirens entered the Mediclinic Heart Hospital.

Hospital security barred journalists from following the cars into the premises.
Moments later, the vehicles came out escorting a fourth one – a black military ambulance with yellow army number plates.

At that stage reporters at the scene were speculating that Madiba may have been discharged.
However,
journalists stationed at the 1 Military Hospital across town reported
that the convoy entered the state facility after leaving the private
hospital.

EWN reported on Thursday that Mandela (94) was not
receiving treatment at the military facility as had been widely reported
after Mapisa-Nqakula’s interview.

Mapisa-Nqakula spoke to reporters outside 1 Military Hospital after seemingly visiting Mandela there.
At
the time, she said: “He’s doing very, very well and it is important to
keep him in our prayers and also to be as calm as possible and not cause
a state of panic, because I think that is not what all of us need.”

The presidency said it had not been the government’s intention to mislead the public or the media.
Maharaj said he had only stated Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital.

“It
is not part of any strategy or tactic by government to mislead the
public. We have never had that intention. We know to keep to the facts
and we’ve been rigorous,” he said in an interview on Talk Radio 702.
The Beeld newspaper reported that Mandela had been admitted under a pseudonym, which was known to the newspaper.

Mandela was flown to Pretoria from his home in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape.
The presidency said he was suffering from the recurrence of a previous lung infection and was responding to treatment.

Mandela’s
hospital stay is his longest continuous period in hospital since 2001,
when he underwent seven weeks of radiotherapy after being diagnosed with
prostate cancer. He was 83 at the time.
In January 2011, Mandela
was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for an acute respiratory
infection. He had contracted tuberculosis while in prison.